Newberry Marriage

NEWBERRY, WINEGAR, SMITH

Posted By: Sue Simonich (email)
Date: 11/3/2005 at 13:05:27

I am researching the early pioneers of Pottawattamie and Mills Co. My primary subject is my GGGgrandfather James A. Newberry who was an early Mormon. He had property all over Pottawattamie Co. - primarily in Wheeler's Grove and Council Bluffs/Kanesville. In Mills County his farm was at Indian Creek. He also had property in Montgomery County.

If anyone is a knowledgeable historian about these two places I would enjoy talking with you.

I am specifically looking for a marriage for James Newberry when he was quite elderly (in his 80's). The bride was named Amanda, and she was barely out of her twenties when she married him. We know she was young through family lore and a mysterious picture of a pregnant Indian girl included in a family album - The family lore also tells us she was Native American as was James to some extent. We know her first name only because she signed her dower rights away when a portion of the Pottawattamie land in Wheelers Grove was sold to the town fathers for a school. No one seems to know where this young woman came from or who her family was. Similarly, she disappears after about 1874 and no one knows what happened to her. When James died in 1880, his will did not include her, but was scribed with the word "widow" and then crossed out. Without a surname to follow, getting more info on this person has been impossible. There was no marriage recorded civilly or through the RLDS Church - that we have been able to find.

In one of his son's bio, she is mentioned as the last wife and that she went to Harrison County. Nothing more was said.

James was a leader in the RLDS Church at the time as a bishop (spiritual leader) - his son worked along side him as clerk.

I hope someone can help with this conundrum.

The Newberry Family
 

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